Lila Perry, like her other Hillsboro, Missouri high school students, wanted to use the school bathrooms and locker rooms. So the school told her: Go ahead and use the women’s rooms.
Except that Lila Perry is a transgender student, and the school’s action led to a protest on Monday staged by students, many of whom walked out of the school in protest. And some, it turns out, walked out in support of Lila.
“I think we can all agree that changing in the locker room or going to the restroom are very private activities,” said parent Derrick Good.
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Argued Lila, “I feel like there’s a push to just lump all of us transgender people together and force us out. We’re not boys or girls, we’re just a different group of people. And I don’t like that.”
Similar issues have arisen across the country, from Minnesota to Utah, where the first gender-neutral bathroom at a high school just opened up.
“I don’t think any women want me walking into the bathroom with them,” said transgender speaker and activist Michael Hughes.
Meanwhile, Perry says she’s not fighting just for her own rights. “I’m doing this for transgender people,” she said. “I’m not the only transgender person at my school, and I won’t be the last.”
This story originally appeared on TODAY.com
